News
Seoul approves Korean Air-Delta joint venture
April 6th 2018
The trans-Pacific joint venture between Korean Air and Delta Air Lines has been approved by regulatory authorities in the U.S. and South Korea, including the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT). Read More »
“This is an exciting time for customers of both Delta and Korean Air as we launch our trans-Pacific partnership,” said Delta CEO, Ed Bastian. “Our expanded partnership means a host of new destinations and travel options across Asia and North America, with seamless connectivity, world-class reliability and the industry’s best customer service.”
“We are delighted to announce the launch of our partnership with Delta. This partnership will bring more comfort to customers flying between Asia and the Americas,” said Cho Yang Ho, chairman and CEO of Korean Air. “With the recent relocation to Terminal 2 at Incheon Airport alongside with Delta, we will be able to provide seamless service to our customers.”
The combined network formed by the joint venture gives Delta and Korean Air passengers access to more than 290 destinations in the Americas and more than 80 in Asia.
South Korea’s MLIT added a number of caveats to the fine print of the deal both airlines must adhere to.
Korean Air and Delta must not reduce capacity on the five South Korea-U.S. routes they operate without competition. They are Korean Air’s Seoul to Las Vegas and Washington Dulles flights and Delta’s Seoul-Detroit and Seoul-Seattle and Seoul-Atlanta (operated by both airlines).
The partners also must provide annual reports on improvements to customer benefits from the tie-up and any changes in capacity.
“We will closely monitor the reports and check any side effects that could occur on the routes where the two firms have a big market share,” South Korea’s MLIT said.
Delta said the new partnership was “beginning soon”. The SkyTeam members would: implement full reciprocal code sharing on each other’s networks, allow customers to earn miles on Korean Air’s SKYPASS programme and Delta’s SkyMiles programme, begin implementation of joint sales and marketing initiatives; and increase belly cargo cooperation across the Pacific.
Earlier this year, Delta and Korean Air co-located into the new Terminal 2 at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, substantially reducing connecting times for customers. Korean Air rival, Asiana Airlines, does not have a trans-Pacific J joint venture with either Air Canada or United Airlines, its Star Alliance partners in North America.
